


Mondays

by the_ocean_burned



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam and Ronan are physics partners, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, This is nothing but fluff I kid you not, also probably kinda ooc but whatever man, implied/reference child abuse, this is just cute and pure, this is so self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-19 10:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8202233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_ocean_burned/pseuds/the_ocean_burned
Summary: Adam Parrish hates Mondays. Ronan Lynch just likes Adam's smile.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> This is probably super OOC but I really don't care because aimless fluff is totally worth it.

Adam couldn’t help but storm into Physics. It was his last class of the day, he hadn’t slept the night before, and he was in a foul mood. The entire day had been awful. First he had dropped his homework into a puddle and the papers had gotten so soaked by the time he managed to collect them that the ink had been smudged beyond legibility. Then he had endured what felt like hundreds of questions about the purpling bruise that blossomed across the bridge of his nose and his cheekbone like a gruesome flower. Of all the days for his classmates to suddenly not ignore him, that particular day was the worst one they could have possibly chosen. And then, to top it all off, Adam had realized that he’d left his lunch at home, meaning he had to make it through the rest of his abnormally packed day on an emptier stomach than usual.

It was for reasons like these that Adam despised Mondays with the heat of a thousand flaming supernovas. Seriously, Mondays could shrivel up and burn in the deepest, darkest pits of hell as far as Adam was concerned.

All in all, Adam wasn’t expecting Physics to go any better than the rest of the day had. He knew he was scowling and he knew he was only drawing more unwanted attention with his pissy mood, but he couldn’t help it. He was his father’s son, after all.

That thought only made his scowl deepen.

Adam almost wanted to cry when he heard that the assignment for the day was a partnered lab. Usually Adam could deal with group projects with no issue but it was a shittier-than-usual Monday and Adam did not want to deal with another person. He kept silent and stewed in his annoyance by himself, though. The Physics teacher already didn’t like him – something about being too much of a pushover or some other bullshit to that effect – and the last thing Adam needed at the moment was to get a failing grade on a lab. That would more than likely set him off and Adam really couldn’t afford to pay property damage if he lost control of his volatile temper.

Adam ended up paired with a dark-skinned boy with a shaved head and an apparent inability to correctly knot a tie. Adam thought his name was Ronan or something similar; Adam honestly didn’t care. He just wanted to get the lab over with and get to his shift at Boyd’s so he could maybe – hopefully – stop being tempted to snap at everyone who looked at him wrong.

Ronan wasn’t an awful lab partner, at least. He seemed to know what he was doing to an extent. While Adam built the car they were supposed to use, Ronan played with the mouse trap that would power said car, so to speak. It wasn’t the worst arrangement. Although Ronan was fairly cocky and kind of an idiot – no one would willingly juggle a mouse trap if they were able to comprehend the full risk of their actions – Ronan didn’t say much and, blissfully, didn’t ask about Adam’s bruised face. He stared, yes, but he didn’t make any inquiries as to its cause; Adam was grateful that he didn’t have to bullshit his way out of another uncomfortably intrusive conversation.

Adam was able to work in relative peace for a few minutes; Ronan ruined it with a sharp snap from the mouse trap and a low, growled _fuck._ Adam looked up just in time to see Ronan pry the mouse trap from his finger. For a moment, Adam watched Ronan as he dropped the mouse trap on the table and nursed his probably-stinging finger sullenly.

Then Adam started to laugh.

There wasn’t anything particularly humorous about the moment, but Adam laughed so hard that his eyes watered a little. Maybe it was just because the rest of his day had been such complete and utter crap that Adam needed the comic relief. Whatever the case, it took several moments for Adam to get himself under control. When his laughter finally petered out, Adam realized that not only was the classroom totally silent, everyone was staring at him with wide eyes and slack jaws. Even Ronan looked like he had been hit over the head.

Adam could feel his ears slowly turning an embarrassed shade of red. He didn’t know why he was getting stared at. All he had done was laugh; what was so shocking about that?

Eventually the classroom filled with idle chatter as the rest of the students went back to work. Ronan continued to gawk, appearing rather shell-shocked. Adam was beginning to feel distinctly uncomfortable with the staring.

“What?”

The question came out sounding much sharper and more defensive than Adam had intended, but it seemed to do the trick. Ronan blinked once, twice, and then shut his mouth with a sharp click as his teeth slammed together.

“I—” Ronan started, but he shook his head and turned back to the mouse trap without any further response.

Over the course of the lab, Ronan’s finger got caught a total of eleven more times in the mouse trap. Every time, Adam would snicker and Ronan would stare for a minute or two and they’d go back to their work. By the time class let out, Adam was well aware that Ronan was doing it on purpose, but he didn’t know _why._ Either Ronan enjoyed the pain a little too much to be considered socially normal or he had wanted to make Adam laugh. As endearing as the latter would be, Adam was more inclined to believe the former. However, Adam did entertain a millisecond of imagination, picturing Ronan snapping his finger in that damned mouse trap over and over again purely because he liked Adam’s smile. It was a cute thought that Adam basked in for a moment before letting it go.

Adam left Physics in a much better mood.

For the next few days, every time Adam saw Ronan, he would offer a small smile. Every time, Ronan tripped over air and stared in what almost seemed like awe after a thoroughly embarrassed Adam. It was flattering to know that he could fluster Ronan Lynch with nothing more than a smile.

 

Monday rolled around again and Adam felt like curling up in a corner and sobbing his eyes out. He was tired and he was sore and his bike had finally given in to its age and rust so Adam was sweaty and gross from his walk to school to boot. _Fuck Mondays,_ Adam thought viciously as he yanked open his locker door.

Adam was already so done with the day that he didn’t noticed the piece of paper stuck to the locker door until it sliced along his knuckles and gave him a paper cut. Adam swore in frustration and put his bleeding knuckle to his mouth, a small defeated noise escaping him against his will. He seriously hated Mondays.

Once his knuckle had stopped bleeding, Adam looked up at the paper that had caused the cut. Taped to the locker sloppily, it was covered in a messy, nearly illegible scrawl that Adam didn’t recognize. He had to squint a little to figure out what it said as he pulled it from his locker.

_Your freckles are cute._

Adam’s face flamed, but he smiled through his embarrassment. While it was a little unnerving that he had no idea who had written the note, Adam was glad for its baseless flattery. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath through his nose, forcing himself to relax. The sweet words settled in Adam’s chest warmly and he let them give his ego a tiny but much-needed stroke on their way down.  As shallow as it probably seemed, the small kindness of the note had refocused Adam and nearly completely dispelled his frustration. Re-centered and calm, Adam grabbed his books and headed to class.

 

For three months, Adam received a similar note every Monday, scribbled on a piece of paper torn from a notebook and taped hurriedly to the inside of Adam’s locker door. It was sloppy on good days and nigh illegible every other day, but the effort that whoever wrote the notes put into giving Adam a confidence boost on his least favorite day of the week was endearing and appreciated.

Adam did wonder who it was. Clearly it was someone who either stalked Adam or shared a class or two with him. Adam chose to believe the latter situation; most stalkers didn’t leave cute notes in their target’s lockers on a weekly basis, as far as Adam knew. Adam also knew that it had to be a guy, since Aglionby was an all-boys school. Adam had thought he was far enough in the closet that people didn’t know he was bi. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of his sexuality – he had come to terms with it years ago – but Henrietta was a small town and he didn’t want his father knowing. Even so, someone had clearly picked up on it. Or, if they hadn’t, they were just incredibly intent on being nice to Adam.

Somehow Adam found the idea of someone wanting to date him more believable than someone wanting to make him happy. Neither was very realistic – Adam knew he was little more than a poser trying desperately to make his imagined self reality and he knew that he was beneath the notice of a fair portion of Aglionby’s populace – but the latter was, at the very least, a bit sweeter to imagine on days that weren’t Mondays and Adam felt like giving up anyway.

The notes varied in content, but every single one made Adam smile. They ranged from _your laugh is really pretty you should do it more often_ to things as simple as _you’re doing great._ All of them left Adam with a warm weight in his chest and a tiny smile on his face and a fuzzy feeling in his veins. It was the best feeling in the world and Adam adored every second of it. He hadn’t felt this light in _ages._

Ronan seemed to enjoy the aftermath, too, because Adam would walk into Latin every day with that tiny smile still in place and Ronan would face plant onto the desk with a tiny sound that was half-embarrassment and half-endearment. It was honestly one of the cutest things Adam had ever seen.

 

After another few weeks of this, Adam finally worked up the nerve to respond. On Friday afternoon just before he left for school, Adam taped his own scrap of paper to his locker door. It only read _thank you_ but Adam’s nervous anticipation didn’t lessen at all over the weekend. If anything, it got worse. By the time Monday came back around, Adam practically ran to school.

In his locker was a note as usual. This one read: _you’re really sweet and polite and I think it’s adorable._

Adam very nearly died right there. He spent the rest of the day in a near-giddy haze, occasionally stifling a soft giggle behind his hand as he remembered the note. No one had ever called him _adorable_ before and it made him want to melt into an embarrassed puddle of flattered goop.

The cute little smile on Adam’s face the whole day very nearly killed Ronan as well.

 

The week before spring break, Adam was anticipating that Monday’s note. He wasn’t looking forward to his two weeks around his father for extended periods of time and he needed the boost, honestly.

Instead of a note taped to the locker door, however, Adam found a shut mouse trap sitting neatly on top of his textbooks, a scrap of paper stuck beneath the metal bar. Adam felt his ears go bright red as he realized exactly who had been writing the notes for the last five and a half months.

Adam pried the paper out of the mouse trap, his fingers shaking a little as he did out of embarrassment. It took him three rereads of the note to fully comprehend what it said.

_Hey, I know breaks kinda suck for you and I was wondering if maybe being my boyfriend would make things any better?_

Adam’s locker wasn’t even fully shut by the time he was halfway down the hall in the direction of his Latin classroom. There were three people there, two lone students in opposite corners of the room and Ronan Lynch, feet propped on his desk and his lip pinched nervously between his lips. When Adam burst into the room, all three of the Aglionby boys looked up and Ronan put his feet on the floor.

Adam just barely managed to get his _yes_ out of his mouth before his lips were mashed against Ronan’s. For a moment, Ronan went still, then a rather high-pitched noise escaped him and he felt backwards onto the floor.

Adam couldn’t help but laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

Dating Ronan Lynch was simultaneously the most exhilarating and most confusing thing that Adam Parrish had ever done. Adam had spent so long not even considering dating that it threw him for a loop, at first. It was worth it, though. Ronan was sweet, even if he was a little dense and he wasn’t the best with emotions. Also, Ronan was a completely hopeless romantic. Adam was half surprised but, at the same time, he really wasn’t. Ronan had spent months leaving small uplifting notes in Adam’s locker; it really shouldn’t have surprised Adam when their first date was a candlelit picnic at midnight in the middle of nowhere. The romanticism of the moment was somewhat ruined by Ronan accidentally setting the corner of the picnic blanket on fire, but Adam still found it sweet. That, and Ronan still had to pause and collect himself every time Adam smiled or laughed.

If dating Ronan had been an adventure, being married to him was more of one.

Mornings like these were Adam’s favorites. He loved waking up in the Barns, warm and lazy and content. Saturday mornings were the best because there was no rush to be anywhere or do anything. In the mornings the Barns was quiet and peaceful; there weren’t any birds chirping to disrupt the peaceful early morning atmosphere.

It was mornings like this, where Adam woke before Ronan, that Adam loved most. Ronan was relaxed when he was sleeping, a small, content smile on his face. Adam smiled gently at the sight and scooted closer, letting his eyes slip shut again as he pillowed his head on Roan’s chest. Ronan’s heartbeat thudded soothingly beneath Adam’s ear, nearly putting him back to sleep.

This sort of peace was something that Adam had never gotten used to. It simply hadn’t existed when he lived with his family or in the church; every second of every day had been _go, go, go_ and _work, work, work_ and a constant, blurry rush of stress and exhaustion. Then, though, he had been driven by the need to get out of Henrietta and as far away as he could. Then, he had had nothing to stay for and no spare time or energy to want something to stay for. Ronan had given Adam something to stay for, though, and Adam would never ask Ronan to abandon the Barns. They meant too much to Ronan for that to be even a remote possibility.

Adam smiled drowsily when Ronan started carding his fingers through Adam’s hair. He was always so gentle with Adam, though not as if he was afraid of breaking him. He was gentle in a way that said _I know you’ve been hurt and I refuse to make it any worse for you._ Even though Adam had gotten away from his father years ago, he still appreciated the gesture. Most people took Ronan for a cold-hearted, brusque asshole, but Adam knew better. Ronan had been hurt, too; he just employed a different  to avoid it than Adam had. Adam had tried to disappear and fade into the background, but Ronan had tried to poison anyone who came close to him so that he wouldn’t get hurt. Besides, Ronan had gone to such intense lengths to make Adam smile in the beginning that Adam could never have had a negative opinion of Ronan.

“Morning,” Adam murmured, tilting his head back and cracking his eyes open. Ronan was watching him with such a soft look that it sent Adam’s heart racing, even after a year of being married and three of dating. He would never get over that look Ronan gave him.

Ronan hummed in response and shifted so that he and Adam were eye to eye. For a moment, they just smiled at each other. Adam felt rather sappy but he figured it was allowed. It was their first anniversary, after all.

 _That reminds me,_ Adam thought. He sat up, abruptly awake, and then leaned back down to kiss Ronan briefly. “Stay here.”

Ronan blinked, confused, but nodded, resting back against the pillows. Adam padded quietly out of the room, snagging his wedding ring from the bedside table as he passed. He knew it was probably a little shallow and more than a little sappy, but Adam found the weight of the ring around his fourth finger comforting. It reminded him that even on his worst days, he would be able to return to the man he loved at the end and that, if nothing else in his life stayed consistent, Ronan would.

Adam hummed lightly to himself as he started to cook breakfast. It wasn’t anything fancy, just an omelet, but Adam wasn’t exactly the best cook. His conservational habits hadn’t died completely; he still freaked out when he saw an empty pantry and momentarily forgot that he had essentially inherited several million dollars by marrying a millionaire.

Adam dug a cookie pan out of a cupboard and used it as a makeshift platter to bring the breakfast upstairs to Ronan. The Lynches were rich, but they weren’t posh like the Ganseys were. As such, Ronan didn’t own any proper breakfast-in-bed trays.

Ronan had fallen asleep again by the time Adam nudged their bedroom door open with his toe. Adam smiled fondly, glad that Ronan had managed to get his sleep schedule somewhat under control. There were far fewer midnight drives and midday naps; Ronan kept a fairly regular sleep schedule these days. If Ronan was up in the middle of the night or sleeping on the couch at eleven in the morning, it was a sign that he had had a rough night, usually due to the reappearance of some of his nightmares. Despite the fact that they were married, Adam knew that Ronan still had his doubts. Once, a very drunk Ronan had told Adam fitfully that _you’re too good for me. I don’t deserve you._ And then Ronan, in the softest voice Adam had ever heard him use, had asked, _why do you stay?_

Adam had spent the first several hours of the next day listing everything he loved about Ronan Lynch.

Adam wasn’t without his doubts, either, but Ronan was equally reassuring when it came to Adam’s self-confidence issues.

Setting the cookie pan precariously on the bedside table, Adam gently shook Ronan awake. For a few seconds, Ronan murmured unintelligibly, reluctant to wake up. Eventually, though, the smell of warm food coerced Ronan into sitting up and blinking blearily up at Adam. With a soft laugh, Adam leaned down and kissed Ronan’s cheek gently, placing the tray on Ronan’s lap.

Ronan quirked an eyebrow and leaned over to return the kiss to the cheek. “And what’s this for?”

Adam grinned mischievously. He was well aware of the fact that Ronan was quicker to do something spontaneously romantic than Adam was, but it was their first anniversary and Adam wanted it to be memorable. “For loving me.”

Ronan’s smile softened and pressed his lips softly to Adam’s. “I’ll always love you.”

Adam smiled, his cheeks and ears burning with the force of his blush. Sometimes it was annoying how easily flustered he was.

Ronan snickered but didn’t tease Adam any further. Adam leaned his head against Ronan’s shoulder, stealing bites of Ronan’s omelet and basking in the soft, comfortable atmosphere. When Ronan was done, Adam stood and collected the dishes before Ronan had the chance to.

“You stay here for another ten minutes,” Adam said, biting his lip in a fruitless attempt to hide his grin, “and then go down to the kitchen.”

Ronan raised an eyebrow but nodded. He trusted Adam and Adam knew it. He almost tripped in his rush to get down the stairs, the reckless giddiness of his plan for the day making him laugh heedlessly.

Adam imagined that this was what a proper childhood would have felt like: laughing and smiling so hard his cheeks hurt and feeling thoughtlessly whimsical. This was how Ronan made him feel and Adam adored every second of it.

Adam grabbed a spool of red yarn from beneath the couch and tied it to one leg of the kitchen table, still grinning. He trailed the string after him, leading Ronan out to one of the biggest barns on the property. Adam had spent a month and a half cleaning the damn thing for this.

Now the interior of the bar was lit by forty nine softly glowing candles – Adam had accidentally dropped and broken the fiftieth when he was setting it up – and the floor was covered in an old but still-soft blanket Adam had found in a storage barn. There was no food, but there was a mousetrap on the blanket. A letter was clipped beneath the metal bar in the same fashion as the note Ronan had used to ask Adam out.

Adam knew it was cheesy and sappy and he really didn’t care. Ronan would like it.

Sitting beside the mousetrap, Adam waited anxiously, unable to keep his smile off his face. He felt childish and ridiculous, but he had long since stopped thinking that was a bad thing. Ronan had taught him that having fun wasn’t a bad thing.

It took Ronan ten minutes to follow the red string to Adam. At first, Ronan looked surprised, and then he just gave Adam one of those soft, fond smiles that were reserved for Adam and Adam alone. Adam felt like his blood had turned to something gentler and warmer in his veins – hot chocolate, maybe.

“I hope this turns out better than my attempt at candles and a picnic blanket,” Ronan joked.

Adam snickered and patted the blanket beside him. Ronan obligingly curled beside Adam, twining their fingers together. Ronan warily regarded the mouse trap and, after a moment, carefully extracted the letter. Now that he didn’t have to trap his fingers in the damn things to make Adam smile, he clearly wasn’t keen on catching his finger in a mouse trap ever again.

Adam rested his head against Ronan’s shoulder, eyes closed. He heard Ronan open the envelope and his cheeks started to warm. It was silent while Ronan read, then Ronan chuckled and pressed a light kiss to the top of Adam’s head.

“Of course,” Ronan murmured against Adam’s scalp. “Of course I will. Always.”

Adam smiled and hummed agreeably, snuggling further into Ronan’s side. He didn’t have to look up to know that Ronan was giving him another one of those sweet smiles.

“You shouldn’t have gotten up if you’re that tired,” Ronan said. Adam pouted and Ronan laughed. “C’mon, you. Let’s put out these candles and then we can go back to bed.”

They blew out the candles and made their way back to the farmhouse and upstairs to their bedroom. Adam curled between Ronan and the wall on the bed, still smiling, lazy and content and warm.

 _This is what it’s like,_ Adam thought to himself. _This is what it’s like to have family._

He didn’t realize he had said it aloud until Ronan pulled him closer.

“Don’t worry about it, Adam. You’ll always have me.”

Adam’s smile only widened. He was content and he was in no hurry to interrupt it. Ronan and Adam both fell asleep again, limbs tangled and cheeks pressed to chests, so completely intertwined that it was hard to tell where one of them ended and the other began. 


End file.
